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Fresh water consumption, wastewater treatment essential cost factors
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Wednesday, 15 February, 2023, 15 : 00 PM [IST]
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Ganesh Gaikwad and Dr B S Agarkar
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The beverage industry (also known as the drink industry) manufactures drinks and ready-to-drink products. Examples are bottled water, soft drinks, energy drinks, milk products, coffee and tea-based products, nutritional beverages and alcohol. The beverage industry is traditionally a market with specific high demands regarding hygiene and its related technologies. Beverage production varies mainly depending on the product being made.
Enterprises in the beverage industry are facing tough competition. Water consumption is one of the most significant cost factors in the sector, since water is the main ingredient of their products such as lemonades, mineral water, juices, beer, wine and cider. In addition, bottle washing or cleaning of machines and equipment also requires enormous amounts of clean water. This makes fresh water consumption an essential cost factor in the production of beverages. Food and beverage water treatment requires systems and technologies that meet the strictest disinfection and purification specifications.
Water availability and quality are perennial problems in the food and beverage industries. Be aware that during some seasons the water supply becomes unstable due to droughts, heavy rains and substantial flooding that may result in issues, with the general quality of the water source. Alternately, there can be regulatory restrictions that set a ceiling on how much water the company can actually use.
In many areas of the food and beverage industry, water is crucial. For successful processing and production, from cleaning industrial equipment to including it in food and beverage products, quality water is essential. Food and beverage production and distribution facilities are subject to stringent water quality requirements, since these products may have an effect on consumer health. Used water that leaves food and beverage manufacturing facilities must be treated, before it is disposed of in order to adhere to environmental regulations.
Sources of wastewater in beverage industries
Soft drink/beverage industries consume a large amount of fresh water as one of the essential ingredients, resulting in a large amount of wastewater generation. Washing of bottles, cleaning of machines and equipment, production line losses, filtration wastes and raw material wastes, are major contributors to freshwater loss in the beverage industry.
Wastewater from bottle washing is almost 50% of the total wastewater generated by this industry. Process for soft drinks typically pollutes the process water with sugar and other easily biodegradable substances. Pollutants in wastewater generated from soft drink industries are also due to the fact that they are mainly composed of washing water from production lines, which is derived from the ingredients used in the final production. Wastewater discharged from soft drink industries usually is contaminated by suspended solid, organic substances, high pH, COD, BOD, nitrates, phosphates, sodium and potassium.
Wastewater contains high concentrations of several organic compounds such as carbohydrates, starches, proteins, vitamins, pectin and sugars, all of which contribute to high COD and suspended solids. If not properly treated, wastewater from a series of processes, cleaning, cutting, slicing, washing, frying, salting, coating and packing, is a significant source of environmental pollution.
Treatment of wastewater
The most straightforward way for beverage processing businesses to reduce water pollution, is to build an effluent treatment plant (ETP) or a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Its primary goal is to develop a product that can be safely discharged into a waterway or sewer, while remaining within recommended discharge limits. After treatment, these effluents can be reused, reducing waste.
Water treatment in the beverage industries involves a variety of technologies. There are several stages of water treatment that help in eco-friendly discharge, ranging from removing FOGs to treating high levels of BODs and CODs:
Clarification: Clarification uses flocculants and coagulants to remove suspended solids and particulate matter, which encourages settling.
Biological Treatment: By decomposing organics, this step improves the quality of food and beverage industry effluent.
Filtration: It is a technique for physically, mechanically, and biologically separating solids, from treated water.
Reverse Osmosis: This step recovers reusable water through membrane separation.
Disinfection: Using water treatment chemicals and UV light, disease-causing organisms are destroyed to prevent their spread.
Ozonation and Ultraviolet Radiation are another two processes that aid in the removal of biological contaminants, which remain in the water after treatment.
Water Softening: It involves removing calcium, magnesium and other metal cations, with ion exchange resins.
Deionisation: It is a type of water softening that uses either cationic or anionic ion exchange.
Importance of wastewater treatment in the food and beverage industry
Uncontaminated Foods and Drinks
Water quality directly dictates the overall quality of the manufactured foods and drinks, which is, by far, the biggest reason why the industry should adhere to set standards concerning water purity, or they might face legal consequences. The World Health Organization (WHO) and FDA has put into place strict guidelines which clearly state that properly treated, disinfected water needs to be used for the manufacturing, cleaning and processing of the food.
Cleaning and Sterilisation of Equipment
Apart from ensuring uncontaminated foods and drinks, the industries also need to make sure they adhere to the cGMP guidelines across the board. Using purified treated water inside an unsterilised environment is of no good. As such, properly treated and sterilised water should be used when washing the packaging equipment, transportation vehicles and even the storage facilities.
Reduce Downtime
As discussed earlier, food and beverage industries face unpredictable water crises, either due to droughts or bad water quality, because of environmental conditions.This is where it becomes crucial to use recycled water that needs to be properly treated and purified to sustain uninterrupted operations. Not only that, but having access to your own water treatment facility gives you your own water supply and helps manage water costs more effectively.
Wastewater Treatment Protects Humans and Ecosystem
Wastewater contains elements toxic to humans and the ecosystem. Wastewater treatment facilities help to purify the water and eliminate situations like what is currently seen in developing countries.Wastewater treatment also protects the ecosystem.
Fish and aquatic life require fresh water. When their water environment is laden with wastewater, they cannot survive. If chemicals, such as nitrogen and phosphates, enter streams, rivers or large bodies of water in excessive amounts, it causes excessive plant growth which release toxins into the water. This leads to oxygen depletion and dead zones; areas where fish and other aquatic life can no longer exist.
(Gaikwad belongs to College of Food Technology, VNMKV, Parbhani; Dr Agarkar is associate professor, Department of Food Engineering, College of Food Technology, VNMKV, Parbhani. They can be reached at ganeshpg107@gmail.com)
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